Work is upgrading my monitors-Recommendations?

peanuthead

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In short, work is upgrading my monitors for my new office setup. I mainly handle general office items and nothing like video editing or gaming. I currently have 2x 24" 1080p monitors, so keeping dual monitors is the idea. Only requirements I have is:

- more screen real estate in each direction
- IPS panel
- I can be in front of them for 8-16 hours so something easy on the eyes is ideal.
- I would say the price per should be no more than $350-400 a piece.

My desk is about 48" wide and I sit about 19" away. (I may increase this a few inches in the future.) I really like 3440x1440/QHD monitors as I get the increase in width and height, but I think 2 is too much and I would have too much head turning. Recommendations?
 
For your uses, I would say that 2 regular aspect ratio monitors (16:10 or 16:9) is better than one ultrawide.

48" sounds small for a desk. Do you mean that's 48" wide, or 48" deep?

At 19" viewing distance, I would think that 24" or 25" is still about the right size. I'd recommend a couple of Dell U2415's (1920 x 1200, so would give you some additional real estate), or maybe a couple of U2518D's (2560 x 1440).

Or, maybe a 27" 1440p monitor, and then a 24" or 25" secondary monitor.

I work from home, and that's basically my setup. My current monitors are a U2515h, and a P2715Q (both Dell's).
 
I just got a pair of P2715Q's. Nice for the price (I got them at around $300 per). IPS, decent color, 4K.

I bumped up from 24" displays to those 27" - the increase in size was pretty negligible and hardly noticeable. The 4K - meh on gaming and real estate, I run at about the same size / real estate as I did on 1920x1200 before, but I do notice a marked improvement in text sharpness - much easier for me to read on screen.
 
My desk at home is an Ikea Jerker to give you at idea of what I am using. I am leaning towards a 27-29" 4K. I have an LG UW I really like for daily use, so it may have to go away, or blend in somehow. The text sharpness and focusing on it is a good thing as I think that is what tires the eyes out the most. I like the text sharpness from my Dell 24s now. Just need more real estate. Thank you for the recommendations this far.
 
My desk at home is an Ikea Jerker to give you at idea of what I am using. I am leaning towards a 27-29" 4K. I have an LG UW I really like for daily use, so it may have to go away, or blend in somehow. The text sharpness and focusing on it is a good thing as I think that is what tires the eyes out the most. I like the text sharpness from my Dell 24s now. Just need more real estate. Thank you for the recommendations this far.

Funny. My desk is a jerker as well. I didn't realize it was only 48" wide :) Guess I hadn't thought about it for a while.
 
I just got a pair of P2715Q's. Nice for the price (I got them at around $300 per). IPS, decent color, 4K.

I bumped up from 24" displays to those 27" - the increase in size was pretty negligible and hardly noticeable. The 4K - meh on gaming and real estate, I run at about the same size / real estate as I did on 1920x1200 before, but I do notice a marked improvement in text sharpness - much easier for me to read on screen.

Nice. Was that price thanks to the Amazon warehouse 20% off? I thought about picking up another one myself. But I think rather than get a second one, I might pick up a gysnc monitor for better gaming results. But I agree, I like the pixel density on the P2715Q for text sharpness. In Windows, I run it at 150% scaling, making it basically a very sharp 1440p 27" monitor.
 
If you need portrait, I'd get two 27" or greater IPS. If not, IPS isn't important.


I have a trio of Dell U2415 and they're good, but Dell standard "support" is so horrendous and unbelievably bad that I will never, ever buy their monitors again.
One of my monitors went bad in less than 6 months, continuously turning on/off/on/off/on/off, and it literally took weeks and dozens of emails and at least 5 - 6 hours on the phone with several reps for them to replace. It was unbelievable.
(My shitty new trio replaced a pair of Dell U2410 home/business which had great support, one went bad a few months before the 5 year warranty and they replaced no problem, took 20 minutes or less.)
 
Whatever you do, at least one of them should be in portrait or at least support spinning to portrait so you can try it. I can't go back to multi-displays without at least one in portrait, especially at work. Outlook and debugs for our voice switch are a dream to use in a tall display.
 
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Nice. Was that price thanks to the Amazon warehouse 20% off? I thought about picking up another one myself. But I think rather than get a second one, I might pick up a gysnc monitor for better gaming results. But I agree, I like the pixel density on the P2715Q for text sharpness. In Windows, I run it at 150% scaling, making it basically a very sharp 1440p 27" monitor.

It was a sale price, I can't recall if it was a warehouse 20% deal or not. They've been superseded by the P2718Q (has some sort of purportedly non-standard HDR support), so I suspect it was just an inventory clearance thing.

I run at 175% scaling right now - coming from 24" 1080 looks about the same scale.
 
I'd say a 27" 1440p display. I recently got such a display from Lenovo for work and it's pretty good. I use a similar size and res ASUS 144 Hz at home and for the resolution and size it's a good fit.
 
If your desk's only 48" wide, 2x34" ultrawides won't fit well; they'd be hanging off by a few inches on each side.

I'd probably go with a pair of 27" monitors at either 2560x1440 or 3840x2160. If you're worried about head turning maybe 25" instead, I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal though. I've got a 24 and a 25" on my desk, and my default sitting position lets me see both comfortably without turning while being able to watch for alerts on a laptop screen farther to the side. (depending on what the notice is I may either turn to read in place, or pull the browser window onto my main screen to respond. that has more to do with it being only a 13" screen though.)

At home I've got a setup with a pair of old 1200x1600 monitors in portrait flanking a 32" 4k (previously 30" 1600p), and the same applies. I can fit the main and either side into my view comfortably while keeping an eye out for alerts on the other side panel.

Based on that experience I wouldn't want to do anything portrait without an effective width (after any DPI scaling) of at least 1200px. I do occasionally run into sites that assume a minimum desktop width of 1280 or 1366, but generally those just cut off a sidebar. 1080p in portrait would probably be chopping content a fair amount of the time.
 
1080p in portrait would probably be chopping content a fair amount of the time.

Its far less intrusive than you think, especially if that's all you have to work with. I have a the work provided 1080p 23" Dell IPS in portrait next to my personal Dell 3008WFP and its still incredibly useful.
 
Having gone with 27" x 4K (2160p), I dunno if I'd do it that way again.
I sit a little over 26" from my monitors and without screen mag on, it's nearly unreadable for desktop use.
If you're looking for more real-estate, look for the utlra-wide screens in 1440p or even 1080 (the 1080 ones are usually under $300 each and you can find 29" models).
You should be able to run them at 100%, so no screen magnification artifacts.
 
I'd try to get one of those 43" 4k multi client monitors that work like 2x2 1080p monitors or maybe a 38" 3840x1600 with a little 24" / 22" portrait side car (or two)
 
+1 on the 43" 4K.

If it isn't enough then get 2x 21.5" monitors as well and stack them vertically on one side, it will be a close match and gives you 2 extra monitors if you prefer using the 4K as a SLS (single large surface).

Or, get a bigger desk:

35719706393_da4f364580_b.jpg
nine_monitors
 
The Monoprice 32” 4k is worth considering. I bought one as a daily driver for work. I do not need to use scaling. Claims to be IPS and is $400. I found the 27” 4k to be too hard to use every day without scaling for intensive spreadsheet and sql usage. The 32 is a nice increase in usability without having a 40+ on them desk. (I needed display port input and HDMIwas not an option for me so ymmv)
 
+1 on the 43" 4K.

+2. I set my wife up with a 43" 4K TV as a monitor for her work from home day to replace dual monitors. While initially skeptical, she loves it now and suggested I should do the same with my machine. I did mine, and I've really grown to love it, too. I'm seriously considering spending my own money to take a 43" 4K to work, as my work will not buy me a new monitor. 43" 4K in the middle as primary, flanked on the sides by a pair of 24" 1920x1200 monitors rotated in portrait would be a very close match in height.

That 9-monitor setup looks awesome.
 
I really like 3440x1440/QHD monitors as I get the increase in width and height, but I think 2 is too much and I would have too much head turning. Recommendations?

I had this setup at my old job and I loved it. But you are right about the head turning if you are side by side. The trick is to stack them. It was perfect.
 
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